After spending six years or more as the production gardener I started to notice how my personality was coming out in the vegetables ... my particular obsessions, emphasis and weaknesses coming out in how the vegetables came to life or to the table of our subscribers. I had made enough mistakes to wallow in them or correct them. It's kind of fun to step into someone else's personality made full bloom in the garden.

One of the big things I learned in the years I was in this Common Ground was plant empathy. How does the gardener understand on an emotional level what the plant is enduring and change its condition (by street smarts) to the better as much as possible? This is still something I remind home or big-time gardeners of when I have the chance.

This week I've been able to step into Kate's muck-boots. I can tell you she cares a great deal about getting good food to you and about creating an intact food system that will stand up on its own. Kate has taken ownership of the garden since it moved to its new location west of the barn, and I'm unfamiliar with the sandier soil and new nightshades (a family of plants/weeds) that haunt us out there, but the commitment she gives to it is familiar to her personality.

We can learn anything through a book, but the plant empathy Kate feels is a special gift we can be born into.

It's a Fruit ... It's a Vegetable ...

By Kari Sholing, RDN, who is a subscriber and our garden registered dietician. She will be contributing regular articles to the newsletter and is happy to answer specific questions.  

Contact her at: karijean999@gmail.com   

It's a tomato! Botanically, a tomato is a fruit. It develops from a blossom and it has seeds. But the U.S. government declared it a vegetable over a century ago under the Tariff Act of 1883. Under this context, the government could make money off this abundant supply of food. Tomatoes are also used primarily as a vegetable from a culinary perspective.

Regardless of what it is, tomatoes are a fantastic source of nutrients. Colors of fruits and vegetables aren't present merely by chance or only to make the food look appealing. The color of any fruit or vegetable is determined by its nutrients. The color red primarily comes from lycopene and anthocyanins - powerful antioxidants. As we've heard before, antioxidants can help prevent heart disease, cancer and stroke and, in the case of lycopene, can also help protect against macular degeneration.